MA.RKS 


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CONJT.GTIIRAL   IHQOIR 

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MlflD  AND  STOMACH* 


TK"E 


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Columbia  SJntonsitp 

mtljeCtipoOtegork 

College  of  iptjpsficians  anb  burgeons 
Hibrarp 


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in  2011  with  funding  from 

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CONJECTURAL  INQUIRY 


INTO  THE 


RELATIVE  INFLUENCE 


OF 


THE  MIND  AND  STOMACI 

.ifeURAr 


BY   ELIAS   MARKS, 

OF  CHARLESTON,  SOUTH-CAROLINA. 


"  There  is  such  a  reciprocal  connexion  and  consent  between  the  particular 
Thoughts  and  Affections  of  the  Mind  and  the  Body,  that  a  change  in  one  will 
tlways  produce  a  change  in  the  other  "  Bokrhaave 


NEWYORK: 

TRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR,    BY  VAN  WINKLE  &  WILEY . 


«.*♦♦♦«.♦♦♦** 


1815. 


-CJ 


77/    • 

/P/t 


AN 

INAUGURAL  DISSERTATION; 

BEING 
A  CONJECTURAL  INQUIRY  INTO  THE  RELATIVE  INFLUENCE 

OP 

THE  MIND  AND  STOMACH: 

SUBMITTED 

TO  THE  PUBLIC  EXAMINATION 

OF  THE 

TRUSTEES  OF  THE  COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS, 
IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW-YORK, 

SAMUEL  BARD,  M.  D.  PRESIDENT, 
FOB. 

The  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine, 

On  the  2d  day  of  May,  1315, 


PRELIMINARY 


"Les  conjectures,"  (says  a  celebrated  wri- 
ter,*) •'  sont  le  degre  de  certitude  le  plus  eloigne 
de  Levidence ;  mais  ce  n'est  pas  une  raison  pour 
les  rejeter.  C'est  par  elles  que  toutes  les  sciences 
et  tous  les  arts  out  commence :  car  nous  entre- 
voyons  la  verite  avant  de  la  voir  ;  et  l'6vidence 
ne  vient  souvent,  qu'  apres  la  tatonnement." 

The  best-attested  systems  of  the  day  have  had 
their  origin  in  conjecture,  which  has  been  gradu- 
ally strengthened  by  observation,  and  confirmed  by 
successive  experiment.  Yet,  speculation  has  its 
limits,  beyond  which  the  mind  wanders  in  the 
region  of  shades,  conjuring  up  forms  of  its  own 
creation,  and  giving  "  to  empty  nothings  a  local 
habitation  and  a  name." 

Science,  so  far  from  considering  imagination 
as,  within  certain  limitations,  a  needful  auxiliar, 
has  viewed  her  agency  as  ever  prejudicial.  She 
has  been  beheld,  with  fearful  jealousy,  as  a  Circe* 
tending  only  to  lure  the  reason  astray — an  Ata- 
lanla,  for  ever  strewing  her  golden  fruit  in  the 
pathway  of  the  pursuer.  Yet,  were  the  dawn  of 
many  well-attested  systems  observed,  we  should 
find  them  ushered  in  amidst  that  twilight  of  the 
mind,  when  the  mists  of  fancy,  as  yet,  hover 
around  the  presentations  of  reason.  Thus  arose 
the  philosophy  of  a  Newton,  and  the  incipient 
reasonings  of  a  Colon.     The  fall  of  a  few  venial 

*  Oondillac  de  l'Art  de  Raisonner,  torn,  iv,  p.  184. 
2 


blossoms  led  the  way  to  the  doctrines  of  gravita- 
tion, and  some  reeds,  wafted  by  the  billows  of  the 
ocean,  gave  strength  to  the  imaginings  of  the 
Gen<  >ese. 

Hypothesis,  in  mounting  upwards,  from  effects, 
my  deduce  its  conclusions  from  mere  possibilities  ; 
yet  such  deductions,  as  they  cannot  meet  positive 
confutation,  so  will  they  ever  remain  stationary, 
without  making  nearer  advances  to  truth.  Such 
is  the  splendid  geological  dream  of  Darwin,* 
and  such  the  doctrines  of  the  vital  principle.  Com- 
parative reasoning,  and  that  founded  on  rational 
inference,  from  probabilities,  though  far  short  of 
direct  evidence,  will  yet  claim  a  hold  on  our  cre- 
dence, where  they  may  either  gain  accessions,  from 
progressive  discovery  or  be  disproved  and  reject- 
ed by  after  experience. 

In  conjectural  inquiry,  we  are  duly  aware, 
eccentricity  does  not  more  imply  talent,  than  ser- 
vile adherence  to  prescription  implies  reasoning — 
that  original  paradox  may  proceed  from  fallacy  of 
judgment,  as  dull  correctness  from  mental  cow- 
ardice. Yet  with  the  adventurer,  essaying  on 
subjects,  void  in  many  points,  of  collateral  aidance, 
something,  perhaps,  is  to  be  allowed ;  nor  should 
it  so  much  be  sought  wherein  he  has  failed,  as 
in  what  he  has  succeeded.  Such  a  one  will 
surely  incur  greater  chance  of  failure,  than  the 
cautious  scholiast,  never  adventuring  beyond  the 
precincts  of  syllogism.  The  former  dates  his  la- 
bours from  that  point  at  which  the  latter*  cautious-- 
ly  desists.  While  the  one  pushes  his  discoveries 
amidst  unexplored  regions,  the  other  resigns  him- 

*  Vide  Botanical  Garden. 


self  tcTthe  electing  from  their  results  ;  and,  through 
an  assiduity  unsolicited  by  the  witcheries  of  ima- 
gination and  feeling,  arrives  at  a  greater  share-  of 
correctness.  The  contributions  of  the  last,  how- 
ever, are,  at  best,  but  those  of  a  compiler,  whilst 
the  first  may  compensate  for  occasional  trespasses 
against  reason,  by  extending  the  domains  of  her 
empire. 


CONJECTURAL  INQUIRY,  &c. 


PART  I. 


Sect.  I.     The  moral  faculty  intimately  connected  with 
bodily  sense. 

Ascending  in  the  scale  of  inquiry,  causes  and 
their  effects  appear  so  enlinked,  that  the  discove- 
ry of  one  series  gives  us  but  the  effects  of  others, 
still  stretching  onward  in  progression,  until  they 
have  terminated  in  principles,  which,  from  their 
inexplicability,  we  term  ultimate.  Many,  bewil- 
dered in  the  pursuits  of  these  successive  operative 
causes,  have,  in  their  despondency,  condemned 
all  attempts,  having  such  a  tendency.  Yet  when 
we  revert  to  the  knowledge  deduced  from  them, 
and  the  access  of  pleasure,  flowing  in  upon  the 
feelings  from  their  successful  results,  the  condem- 
nation will  appear  premature.  Science  is  pro- 
gressive ;  we  may  compare  it  to  a  ladder,  in  the 
ascending  of  which,  we  in  succession  rest  on  those 
points  which,  a  few  moments  before,  were  beyond 
our  reach. 

Physiologists  have  not  been  more  opposed  to  each 
#ther,  on  the  economy  of  animal  life,  than  meta- 


10 

physicians,  on  the  operations  of  the  human  mind. 
Both  appear  to  have,  occasionally,  erred,  from  not 
sufficiently  adverting  to  the  intimate  connexion  of 
mind  and  body. 

Metaphysics  has  busied  herself,  from  the  days 
of  the  Stagyrite,  in  attending,  too  much,  to  the 
mind  in  the  abstract.  Even  the  familiar  biogra* 
pher,  in  portraying  the  moral  and  intellectual  fea- 
tures of  genius,  and  animadverting  upon  their 
combinations,  has  estimated  the  mind  as  exclu- 
sively her  own,  and  not,  like  the  monarchy  of 
Sparta,  holding  another  confederate  in  rule.  Phi- 
losophy, mostly  prone  to  extremes,  has  either  be- 
wildered herself  in  the  mazes  of  idealism,*  or,  de- 
scending to  a  groveling  materialism,  has  rendered 
every  thing  incorporate  with  matter. 

The  estimate,  at  various  periods,  given  of  the 
human  mind  has  much  varied.  Locke  and 
D'  \lembert  have  made  it  a  mere  receptacle  de- 
pendent on  the  senses ;  while  the  German  philoso- 
phers have  considered  it  as  possessing  faculties  part- 
ly intuitive.  The  Mallebranchistes,  by  rendering 
all  its  actions  immediately  referable  to  its  creator, 
have  rendered  the  human  being  an  automaton  ;  and 
it  has,  again,  been  viewed  as  bearing  the  same  re- 
lation to  body  as  motion  does  to  matter.f  "  Tout 
croient  juger  d'apres  ce  qu'ils  sentent :  mais  cette 
diversite  d'opinions  prouve  qu'ils  ne  savent  pas 
tous,  interroger  le  sentiment."J 

In  the  following  brief  inquiry,  the  human  mind 
is  considered  as  an  essence,  intrinsically  immateri- 
al, but,  relatively,  material. 

*  Vide  Phil  of  Berkley. 

f  Mi.<abaud,  La  Syskme  de  la  Nature, 

t  Condiilac, 


11 

Its  relative  materiality  consists  in  our  being  una- 
ble to  perceive  its  existence,  or  estimate  its  powers, 
when  abstracted  from  the  operation  of  bodily  sense. 
W  tthout  giving  it  this  relation,  it  would  be  that 
indefinable  essence  which  has  so  often  bewildered 
the  speculation,  and  eluded  the  mental  grasp,  of  ihe 
theorist.  It  is,  in  fact,  only  as  it  is  connected  with 
the  organs  of  bodily  sense  that  mind  does  exist. 
Beyond  this,  if  the  expression  be  admissible,  it 
may  be  said  to  become  intangible.  The  pardoxi- 
cal  Berkly  has  endeavoured  to  rest  the  existence  of 
matter  solely  on  the  perception  ol  mind.  May  not 
the  reverse  of  this  position  be  the  truth,  viz.  that 
the  perception  of  mind  rests  solely  on  the  exist- 
ence of  matter  ? 

Nothing,  perhaps,  proves  the  inefncacy,  and,  in- 
deed, nullity  of  all  boasted  abstractions,  than  our 
incapacity  of  forming  any  idea  of  ihe  Divine  Es- 
sence•,  without  assigning  a  form  and  substance. 


Sect.  II.     Whence  does  this  connexion  arise.7 

The  brain  is  the  origin  of  motion.  The  phe- 
nomena of  thought,  the  exercise  of  the  vital, 
natural,  and  animal  functions,  are  referable  to 
this  source.  Sensation,  on  the  contrary,  is  sup- 
posed to  proceed  from  the  extremity  of  the  nerve, 
and  to  have  its  termination  in  the  sensorium.  The 
senses  appear  the  means  whereby  the  mind  is  fur- 
nished with  those  ideas  denominated  sensible,  as 
distinguished  from  innate.  Through  the  medium 
of  these,  the  nerves  constitute  the  connecting  link 
between  external  nature,  and  the  sensorium. 


12 

Haller  has  defined  sensation  to  be  a  "  change  of 
mind,  produced  by  change  of  body."* 

Is  it  the  impression  made  on  the  mind,  in 
consequence  of  nervous  communication  ? 

Is  passion  the  immediate  reaction  of  the  mind, 
following  sensation,  which  manifests  itself  in  the 
vital,  natural,  and  animal  functions  ? 

We  feel  duly  aware,  that  the  term  passion,  has 
been  differently  defined  and  applied.  Bichat  refers 
it  as  an  exclusive  attribute  of  organic  life  ;  while 
he  has  made  thought,  characteristically  designative 
of  animal  life.  This  apportioning  the  attributes 
of  animal  being  to  a  sentient  or  a  percipient  facul- 
ty, may  serve  well  enough  the  purpose  of  classifica- 
tion, and  answer  the  intention  of  the  systematizer ; 
but  a  recourse  to  the  phenomena  of  life  will 
have  a  tendency  to  render  the  inquirer  somewhat 
captious.  He,  again,  defines  passion  to  be  the  ef- 
fect of  sensation.  Now,  how  sensation  shall  operate, 
by  exclusively  exciting  the  passions,  without  the 
mind's  taking  cognizance  of  the  operation,  does  not 
appear.  The  impression,  perception,  sensation, 
and  consequent  reaction  of  the  sensorium,  are  ac- 
tions consecutive  of  each  other. 

Passion,  then,  so  far  from  being  a  blind  impulse, 
originating  in  mere  organic  life,  is  a  provident  re- 
action of  the  sensorium,  whose  end  is,  for  the  most 
part,  preservative ;  entering  intimately  into  our 
actions  and  relations  with  things  around  us. 
Thought,  emanating  from  the  same  source,  is  the 
product  of  a  more  deliberate  ratiocination. 

Should  compassion,  for  instance,  be  defined  a 
mere  organic  impulse  of  the  blood ;  or,  does  it  not 

*  Physiology,  Chap.  X.  p.  1 74. 


13 


rather,  proceed  from  a  prompt  suggestion  of  mind, 
both  conceiving  and  inferring,  as  it  were,  with  one 
effort.  The  swain  of  Sterne,  arrested  at  the  sight 
of  the  bleeding  lamb,  is  the  motion  of  passion ;  but 
the  suggestion,  "  O  had  I  come  one  moment  soon- 
er !"  is  the  result  of  reflection, 


Sect.  III.     This  connexion  exemplified,  in  the  sympa- 
thy of  the  mind  and  alimentary  functions. 

Anatomy  has,  progressively,  developed  the  func- 
tions of  the  body  ;  and  metaphysics,  looking  into 
the  mirror  of  the  mind,  has  caught  and  portray- 
ed her  own  features.  Were  we  possessed  of  the 
intermediate  link,  uniting  the  sciences  of  moral 
and  physical  man,  we  should,  perhaps,  be  enabled 
familiarly  to  account  for  phenomena,  the  most  in- 
teresting  to  humanity.  Melancholia,  hypochondri- 
asis, mania,  with  the  various  motus  abnormu  of 
intellect,  would,  then,  probably,  be  more  success- 
fully subjected  to  a  medicine,  which  should 

"  Minister  to  the  mind  diseased ; 
Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow ; 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  mind ; 
And,  with  some  sweet,  oblivious  antidote, 
Cleanse  the  stuff 'd  bosom  of  the  perilous  stuff, 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart." 

Such  a  discovery  would  be,  indeed,  imparting  a 
body  to  intellect,  and  an  understanding  to  matter ! 

From  the  intimate  connexion,  existing  between 
the  functions  of  the  body  and  the  faculties  of  the 
mind,  it  will  follow,  that  the  healthy  action  of  the 
one,  is  essential  to  that  of  the  other  ;  that  whatever 

3 


14 


leads  to  weaken  this  connexion,  must,  in  a  mea- 
sure, interrupt  the  association,  and  that,  thus,  new 
associations  may  be  formed,  either  of  a  salutary 
or  morbid  tendency. 

"  L'union  de  Tesprit  et  du  corps,  est,  en  effet, 
bi  fort  qu'on  a  de  la  peine  a  concevoir  que  l'un 
puisse  agir,  sans  que  l'autre  ne  se  repete,  plus  ou 
moins,"de  son  action."*  This  law  of  the  animal 
economy  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  con- 
nexion of  the  brain  and  alimentary  canal ;  the  for- 
mer, the  source  of  motion  ;  the  latter,  the  essential 
organ  of  nutrition.  Their  intimate  union  did  not 
escape  the  ancients.  Plato  has  assigned  a  trium- 
virate of  souls,  as  it  were,  to  the  human  being ; 
the  first  resident  in  the  brain,  the  second  in  the 
stomach,  or  diaphrafgm  ;  and  the  last  equally  dif- 
fused throughout  the  system.  The  Augustan  age 
of  Roman  literature  has  not  been  more  scientific 
on  the  subject. 

u  Est  animus  (says  Cicero)  in  partes  distribu- 
tus  duas,  quarum  una  in  appetitu  posita  est,  qui 
hominem  hue  et  illuc  rapit ;  altera  in  ratione,  quae 
docet  et  explanat  quod  faciendum,  fugiendumve 
sit.f 

But,  though,  not  equalling  the  moderns,  in  inge- 
nious hypothesis,  the  ancients  have,  practically,  at- 
tended  to  the  bearings  which  the  stomach  and  men- 
tal faculty  have  on  each  other ;  as  also,  to  the  in- 
strumentality of  the  former  in  modifying  moral 
causes.  Hence,  we  find  dietics  of  so  much  import- 
ance with  them  as  to  call  forth  the  attention  of  le- 
gislators and  rulers.     They  form  the  most  promi- 

*  Tissot,  de  la  Santi  de  Gem  de  Lettres, 
f  Tusc.  n.  47. 


15 


nent  features  of  their  respective  codes.  Nay,  to 
enforce  what  they  would  here  enjoin,  religion  her- 
self was  had  recourse  to,  and  rendered  the  power^ 
ful  instrument  to  compliance. 


Sect.  IV.     Sensation  does  not  originate  merely  in  the 
organs  of  bodily  sense* 

Among  the  faculties  of  sense,  touch,  or  the 
tact  of  nerve  with  external  matter,  constitutes  one 
of  the  fine  orders.  Yet,  as  in  hearing  and  smell- 
ing, an  evident  tact  does  exist  between  the  respect- 
ive organs,  and  the  minute,  though  invisible  parti- 
cles  of  matter,  all  the  senses  in  the  exercise  of 
their  several  functions,  may  be  considered  as  en- 
joying modifications  of  touch. 

The  senses,  however, -furnish  not  the  only  ave- 
nues to  sensation ;  nor  are  they,  as  Bichat  would 
infer,  the  exclusive  agents,  communicating  the 
cause  of  passion;  for  wherever  nerve  is  excited, 
sensation  will  be  conveyed.  Thus,  in  Incubus, 
Globus  Hystericus,  and  Hypocondriasis,  it  is  the 
natural  functions  which  perceive,  and  communicate 
the  cause  of  sensation  to  the  sensorium.  Pecu- 
liar affections  of  any  of  the  functions  will  give  rise 
to  peculiar  sensations,  and  consequent  passion.* 
The  various  motus  abnormu  of  intellect,  arising 
from  uterine  affections,  are  well  known.  The 
most  violent,  lively,  and  profound  passions  and 

*  "  By  sensibility  is  meant  that  faculty  of  living  organs, 
which  renders  them  capable  of  receiving  from  the  contact  of 
other  bodies,  an  impression,  stronger  or  fainter,  that  alters 
the  order  of  their  motions,  increases  or  diminishes  their 
activity." 

Richerand,  Phys 


16 


emotions,  proceed  frequently  from  this  source. 
Besides,  in  our  dreams,  whilst  communication  by 
the  senses  is  suspended,  the  most  vivid  sensations 
are  communicated,  and  every  passion  is,  by  turns, 
excited.  In  our  waking  moments,  also,  sensations 
will,  at  times,  arise,  which  cannot  be  traced  to  any 
external  source.  This  circumstance  an  excellent 
physician  and  great  poet  has  noticed ; 

"  Witness  the  sprightly  joy,  when  aught  unknown 
Strikes  the  quick  sense,  and  wakes  the  lively  soul 
To  brisker  measures.''  Memide, 

Touch  is  co'extendent  with  nerve  ;  consequent- 
ly, wherever  connexion  exists  between  matter  and 
the  body,  this  principle  is  present.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  a  corollary,  that  parts  which  derive  the 
greatest  share  of  nerve,  will  be  the  best  fitted  for 
receiving  sensation. 

Haller  has  observed  that  "all  sensation  arises 
from  the  impression  of  a  sensible  object  on  some 
nerve  of  the  human  body."*  If,  by  a  sensible 
object,  he  alludes  to  what  is  cognizable  by  the 
nerve,  the  position  is  incontrovertible ;  but  he, 
certainly,  cannot  be  understood  to  use  the  term 
in  the  common  acceptation,  of  a  thing  subjected 
solely  to  the  senses. 

YY  hether  it  be  a  fluid  or  not,  by  which  the  nerve 
is  enabled  to  transmit  impressions  received,  to  the 
sensorium,  will,  at  best,  be  the  mere  deduc- 
tion of  probable  reasonings.  It  is  sufficient  for 
us  to  premise,  that  as  the  nerves  have  one  common 
origin,  we  cannot,  either,  a  priori  or  a  posteriorly 
infer,  that  any  one  set  enjoy  a  specific  excellence 
over  the  rest.  The  amount  of  sensation  is,  therefore, 
as  the  quantity  of  nerve  ;  consequently,  those  or- 
gans must  derive  the  greatest  portion  of  sensation 

f  Pkys.  Aph.366, 


17 

from  tact,  which  are  possessed  of  the  greatet  ag- 
gregation of  nerve.  "  Those  parts  of  the  body 
which  receive  nerves,  possess  sensibility  most 
acutely  when  they  receive  many."* 

Sect.  V.     The  Stomach  imparts  sensation  to,  and  re- 
ceives impression  from,  the  Brain. 

If  we  consider  the  stomach  in  this,  apparently, 
just  point  of  view,  our  estimation  of  the  sensibili- 
ty of  which  it  is  possessed,  will  only  be  inferior  to 
that  of  the  brain  itself,  the  primum  mobile  of  thought. 
The  stomach,  so  wonderfully  supplied  with 
nerves,  forming  one  close  woven  plexus,  has  been 
characterized  as  "  maxima  gaudens  sensibilitate  ;"t 
and  it  was  this  centre  of  sympathy  which  Van  Hel- 
mont  chose  for  the  residence  of  his  Archeus.  Con- 
tinually receiving  impressions  from,  and  impart- 
ing sensations  to,  the  brain,  it  may  be  consider- 
ed as  enjoying  a  tact  more  exquisite  than  any 
other  of  the  senses  ;  but,  with  this  essential  differ- 
ence, that  this  interchange  of  agency  particularly 
in  a  state  of  health,  is  not  so  much  subjected  to 
our  consciousness* 

On  the  due  performance  of  the  gastric  functions, 
depends  a  sanity  of  body  and  mind.  And  here  it 
is,  that  the  intimate  connexion  of  the  stomach 
with  the  mind,  is  least  observable ;  for,  from  the 
proper  exercise  of  the  faculties  of  the  latter,  and 
functions  of  the  former,  and  their  consequent  just 
re- action  on  each  other,  such  an  equilibrium  is 
maintained,  as  to  render  us,  in  a  measure,  insensi- 
ble of  their  close  alliance.  Thus,  the  man  in  health 
will  seldom  revert  to  this  well- maintained  harmo- 
ny, as  the  source  of  that  energy  and  animation,  of 

*  Haller,  Phys.     Aph.  364. 

I  I^ber.  Prwlediones  Anatomical,  p.  314, 


18 


which  he  feels  conscious.  But  it  is  to  the  affections 
of  the  alimentary  functions,  that  the  valetudinarian 
can  readily  trace  most  of  his  sensations ;  and  he 
becomes  duly  sensible  of  their  nice  relationship 
with  the  mind,  from  the  morbid  condition  of  each, 
imparting  a  morbid  consciousness  and  introverted 
attention. 

"  Quant  a  Paction"  (says  the  celebrated  Tissot) 
"  de  1'ame  sur  l'estomac,  elle  se  demontre  tous  les 
jours,  par  des  experiences  que  chacun  peut  veri- 
fier soi-meme.  L'homme  qui  pense  le  plus,  est 
celui  qui  digere  le  plus  mal,  toutes  choses  egales 
d'ailleurs :  celui  qui  pense  le  moins,  est  celui  que 
digere  le  raieux.  On  voit  tres  frequemment,  des 
sots  boire  et  manger  beaucoup  sans  s'incommoder, 
quiconq'ils  menent  une  vie  sedentaire,  et  qu'ils  ne 
soient  pas  d'une  constitution  plus  robuste  que 
d'autres.  Combien  ya-t-il,  au  contraire,  de  gens 
d'esprit  dont  les  digestions  sont  penibles  et  labo- 
rieuses,  quoiq'ils  soient  d'un  bon  temperament,  et 
qu'ils  fassent  de  l'exercise.  Cette  meme  loi  de 
1 'organization  du  corps  humain,  qui  fait  que  les 
vomissemens  sont  un  des  premiers  symptomes  de 
la  lesion  du  cerveau,  apres  les  coupes  recues  a  la 
tete,  se  trouve  dans  toutes  les  irritations  de  cet 
organe."* 

Sect.  VI.  What  is  the  proximate  cause  communicating 
sensation  to,  and  transmitting  motion  from,  the 
Brain  ? 

That  the  nerves  constitute  the  associating  link 
between  the  sensorium  and  the  organs  of  bodily 
sense,  has  been  well  established.  The  subject 
which  next  interested  the  physiologist,  was  the  mo- 

*  Sante  de  Gens  de  Lettres, 


19 

dus  operandi  which  tends  to  this  accomplishment. 
Accordingly,  as  hypothesis  is  ever  attendant  on  the 
footsteps  of  suggestion,  various  doctrines  were  had 
recourse  to ;  and  analogy,  ever  fertile  in  similitude, 
drew  ample  materials  from  the  store-house  of  sci- 
ence. Yet,  causes  are  not  only  perceived  by  means 
of  events  alone,  but  are  perceived  solely  in  the 
events. 

"  Itaque  facienda  est  corporum  seperatio  et  so- 
lutio ;  non  per  ignem  certe,  sed  per  rationem  et 
inductionem  veram  cum  experimentis  auxiliari- 
es."* 

From  not  attending  to  this  important  truism5 
whence  the  inquirer  of  truth  should  ever  set  out, 
have  arisen  the  mechanical  doctrines  of  Borelli 
and  Pitcairn,  and  the  nervous  fluid  of  Haller  and 
Cullen. 

We  request  the  reader's  patience,  in  reverting 
to  this  subject,  as  it  will  not  be  found  irrelative 
to  the  inquiry  proposed.  Perhaps,  from  an  ap- 
proach toward  the  proximate  principle  of  nervous 
action,  some  few  suggestions  may  arise  on  the 
reciprocity  of  the   mind  and  stomach. 

If  the  existence  of  the  subtile,  ethereal  fluid> 
proposed  by  Hailer,  be  granted,  still  this  will  con- 
stitute but  a.  means,  and  the  modus  operandi  remains 
to  be  explained.  When  we  attend  to  the  phe- 
nomena which  animal  life  offers,  it  will  be  some- 
what difficult  for  the  observer  to  discriminate  be- 
tween a  nervous  and  muscular  action.  "  There 
is  no  muscular  fibre,  however  minute,  in  which  we 
are  not  obliged  to  admit  the  existence  of  a  small 
nervous  filament."  "  The  animals  which  have  no 
distinct  nervous  systems,  possess,  at  once,  in  all 

*  Bacon,  Novum  Organum,  p.  107, 


20 

their  parts,  sensibility  and  contractibility."*  Thus? 
although  the  elementary  fibre  be  considered  dis- 
tinct from  the  nervous,  yet,  to  account  for  the  mo- 
tive nature  of  the  one,  it  becomes  necessary  to  sup- 
pose the  presence  of  the  other. 

Observe  how  Haller  vacillates  on  this  subject : 
"  Are  these  fibres  hollow  ?  Are  they  continuous 
with  the  arteries  ?  Does  the  difference  betwixt 
muscular  and  tendinous  fibres  consist  in  the  lat- 
ter being  rendered  solid  by  being  compressed,  and 
having  the  fluids  expelled?  That  the  blood  is 
not  concerned  is  proved  by  the  slenderness  of  the 
fibres,  which  are  smaller  than  the  blood  globules."! 

What  is,  then,  the -vis  insita  of  Haller?  Is  it  a 
motive  power,  resident  in  the  ultimate  muscular, 
fibre,  independent  of  the  sensorium ;  or,  does  this 
fibre  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  nerve,  as  the  mi- 
nute fibriculi  of  the  leaf  do  to  the  stem  ?  If  so,  are 
the  vis  insita  and  nervous  power  one  and  the  same  ? 

But,  says  Haller,  the  vis  insita  arises  H  from  the 
nervous  liquor  forcing  the  elementary  particles  of 
the  muscular  fibre  to  approach  each  other. "J 
Now,  admitting  the  agency  of  this  nervous  li- 
quor in  producing  the  vis  insita,  a  transudation 
must  take  place  ;  a  circumstance  which  he  himself, 
in  another  place,  has  denied  ever  to  supervene.^ 
According  to  his  own  position,  wherever  a  nervous 
fluid  exists,  there  must  be  a  nerve.  The  thing 
resolves  itself,  then,  in  this  ultimatum:  a  nervous 
agency  being  admitted  as  the  principle  of  the  vis 
insita,  it  must  be  resident  in  the  nervous  fibre  of 
Kicherand,  accompanying  the  muscular  fibre,  or 

i 

*  Richerand,  Phys. 
f  Aph.  399. 
J  Phy.  Aph.  408o 
$  Aph.  379. 


21 


this  muscular  fibre  is  no  other  than  a  continuation 
of  the  nerve*  Nature  ever  accomplishing  her  pur- 
poses by  the  simplest  means,  the  latter  inference 
appears  most  rational. 

This,  no  doubt,  will  be  thought  a  bold  as- 
sumption, a  Lilliputian  spear  hurled  against  doc- 
trine proofed  in  the  armour  of  authority.  It  is  in- 
deed so ;  but  if  truth  speed  the  weapon,  it  may 
reach  its  mark.  "  Philosophers"  (says  Home 
Tooke)  "  have  calculated  the  difference  of  velocity 
between  sound  and  light,  but  who  would  attempt 
to  calculate  the  difference  between  speech  and 
thought  ?"  In  like  manner  we  would  ask,  who 
will  attempt  to  calculate  the  velocity  with  which 
sensation  is  communicated  from  the  sentient  ex- 
tremities  of  the  nerves,  and  the  consequent  reac- 
tion of  the  sensorium.  From  observing  what  is 
termed  the  irritability  of  muscle,  and  its  seemingly 
instantaneous  action,  from  stimuli  applied,  appa- 
rently without  the  interference  of  the  brain,  phy- 
siologists have  been  willing  to  render  this  action 
independent  of  its  liege  sovereign,  the  sensorium^ 
giving  it,  as  it  were,  a  dynasty  of  its  own. 

Sect.  VII.  Does  this  proximate  cause  consist  in  a  prin- 
eiple  of  tension  and  relaxation  of  the  ultimate  fibre  f 

The  animal  economy  presents  this  characteris- 
tic— that  a  tendon  of  the  alimentary  fibre  gives  an 
increment,  as  its  relaxation  gives  a  decrement,  of 
tone  in  the  parts  where  either  exists.  As  in  the  ap- 
plication of  cold,  which,  by  imparting  a  tension  to 
the  fibre,  communicates  an  energy ;  and  in  that  of 
heat,  which,  by  producing  a  relaxation,  abstracts 


22 


from  that  energy.  But,  as  this  ultimate  fibre  is 
subjected  to  the  influence  of  the  sensorium,  we  ob- 
serve the  affections  of  the  mind  producing  corres- 
pondent results.  Whatever  excites  the  former, 
imparts  a  similar  excitation  to  the  latter;  as  what- 
ever depresses  the  one  prostrates  the  powers  of  the 
other.  The  maniac,  propelled  by  some  fantasy  of 
the  brain's  creation, 

"  finds  each  petty  artery  in  his  body, 
As  hardy  as  the  Nemeean  lion's  nerve." 

While  the  dastard  Dolon,  as  described  by  Homer, 

"  Against  the  trembling  wood, 
The  wretch  stood  propp'd,  and  quiver'd  as  he  stood; 
A  sudden  palsy  seized  his  turning  head, 
His  loose  teeth  chatter'd,  and  his  colour  fled." 

An  inferrible  evidence,  also,  of  the  identity 
of  the  muscular  and  nervous  fibre,  is  their  evin- 
cing, in  some  measure,  a  similarity  of  action.  Dr. 
Darwin  has  shown  that  the  retina,  which  is  consi- 
dered a  continuation  of  the  optic  nerve,  manifests 
the  character  of  a  muscle  in  having  its  flexors  and 
extensors,  and  being  susceptible  of  fatigue  and  in- 
stauration.* 

That  the  brain,  notwithstanding  its  medullary 
and  apparent  inelastic  nature,  does  possess  many 
of  the  properties  of  muscularity,  will  be  induced 
from  a  like  observance.  Like  the  nerves  to  which 
it  gives  origin,  (if  the  medulla  spinalis  be  admit- 
ted a  continuation,)  it  appears  possessed  of  a  prin- 
ciple of  tension  and  relaxation. 

Reasoning,  then,  from  effects,  instead  of  pro- 

*  Vide  Zoonomia,  B.  1 . 


23 

ceeding  from  principles,  we,  discover  it  evincing 
deducible  evidences  of  this  property.  "  Tandis 
que  Tame  s'en  occupe,  les  organs  du  cerveau  sont 
dans  une  mouvement  plus  ou  moins  fort,  dans 
une  tension,  plus  ou  moins  grande ;  ces  mouve- 
mens  fatiguent  la  moelle  nerveuse,  cette  sub- 
stance si  tendre,  se  trouve  apres  une  longue  me- 
ditation aussi  epuisee  que  Pest  un  corps  ro= 
buste  apres  une  exercise  violente.  Quiconque  a 
pense  fortement,  une  fois  dans  sa  vie,  a  fait  cette 
experience  sur  soi-meme  ;  et  il  n'y  a  point  d'hom- 
me  de  lettres  qui  ne  soit  sorti  plusieurs  fois  de 
son  cabinet  avec  un  violent  mal  de  tete  et  beau- 
coup  de  chaleur  dans  cette  partie,  ce  qui  depend 
de  l'etat  de  fatigue  et  d'echauffement  dans  lequel 
la  moelle  du  cerveau  se  trouve ;  I'empreinte  de 
cette  fatigue  se  fait  aussi  appercevoir  dans  les  yeux, 
et  si  l'on  considere  un  homme  plonge  dans  la  me- 
ditation, on  voit  que  tous  les  muscles  de  son  visage 
sont  tendus,  ils  paraissent  meme  quelquefois."* 

The  brain,  then,  appears  like  a  muscle ; 

1st.  Susceptible  of  excitement  and  exhaustion ; 
of  fatigue  and  instauration ; 

2d.  It  is  liable  to  convulsive  motion,  as  in  deli- 
rium ;  or,  to  spasmodic  action,  as  in  mania. 

3d.  It  appears  possessed  of  flexors  and  exten- 
sors ;  for  when  fatigued  with  one  species  of  employ- 
ment, it  is  relieved,  by  having  recourse  to  another. 

4th.  Mechanical  pressure  affects  it,  producing 
paralysis;  which  affection,  when  taking  place  in  the 
brain,  from  this  or  any  other  cause,  is  termed 
Coma. 

*  La  Sante  de  Gens  de- Lettres. 


24 


Beet.  VIII.   Will  this  principle  apply  to  the  connexion 
of  the  brain  and  stomach  ? 

If  it  be  conceded,  that  the  muscularity  of  the 
brain  is  at  least  deducible  from  probable  reasoning, 
cannot  the  relative  influence  which  the  brain  and 
stomach  have  over  each  other,  be  accounted  for,  on 
the  principle  of  a  tension  and  relaxation  of  the  ele- 
mentary fibre  ?  Can  this  principle  be  more  ge- 
nerally applied  to  the  communication  existing  be- 
tween the  sentient  extremities  and  the  cerebral 
organs  ?* 

The  brain  chiefly  distinguishes  animal  from  sim- 
ple organic  existence,  and  is  the  prime  exciter. 
The  nerves  constitute  the  medium  of  communi- 
cation between  it  and  the  other  functions.  As 
the  cerebral  organ  imparts  motion  and  sensation  to 
the  rest,  so  it  is,  in  turn,  subject  to  the  reaction  of 
these ;  among  which  the  alimentary  organs,  in  which 
the  nutrient  principle  of  animal  life  resides,  has  the 
most  wonderful  ascendancy. 

Indeed,  when  the  ancients  assigned  a  soul,  as  re- 
sident in  the  nutrient  organ,  it  was  from  perceiv- 
ing this  close  alliance  and  nice  reaction.  Most 
of  the  morbid  affections  of  the  mind,  not  arising 
from  a  moral  cause,  may,  generally,  be  traced 
to  some  peculiar  state  of  the  primes  via ;  whilst 

f  The  reason  assigned  by  Haller,  in  objection  to  the  ex- 
istence of  a  principle  of  tension,  in  the  nervous  fibre,  is  its 
apparent  softness.  But  has  he  not  made  use  of  the  term 
soft  in  a  relative,  rather  than  a  strictly  logical  sense?  As  sub- 
ject to  our  sensations,  it  may,  indeed,  be  considered  as  such : 
yet  can  it  be  objected  that  the  coherent  particles  of  which 
it  is  composed,  may  not,  as  they  respect  each  other,  maintain 
a  certain  proximity  and  distance,  constituting  tension  orjelax- 
fition  1 


25 

the  potent  influence  of  the  passions  and  emotions 
of  the  mind  over  the  latter  is  but  too  evident. 

If  the  energy  or  prostration  of  the  cerebral  and 
alimentary  functions  be  for  the  most  part  correla- 
tive, and  proceed  from  a  tension  or  relaxation  of 
the  elementary  fibre,  muscular  energy  is  not  so 
much  the  result  of  an  aggregation  of  fibre,  as  of  a 
modification  of  it,  termed  tension  ;  in  like  mannei% 
debility  is  not  the  product  of  a  paucity  of  fibre,  but 
of  a  relaxation  of  it.  This  will  appear,  in  attending 
to  the  animal  economy,  where  we  observe  prostra- 
tion  often  existing  with  great  muscular  aggrega- 
tion ;  and  energy  often  combined  with  an  apparent 
deficiency  of  solid. 

In  the  action  of  the  brain  and  stomach  on  each 
other,  that  a  tension  or  relaxation  of  fibre  in  the  one 
exists,  analogous  to  what  takes  place  in  the  other, 
we  would  further  deduce  from  the  position,  that  no 
communication  can  take  place  betwen  two  things 
without  some  correspondent  property  in  each. 
When  we  see  amaurosis  proceeding  from  a  sto- 
machic affection,  we  will  naturally  infer  that  some 
correspondent  property  does  exist  in  relation  to 
the  stomach  and  retina.  We  observe  in  both  an 
impairment  of  contractability  and  dilatability ; 
and  we  hence  infer  a  common  morbid  affection  of 
the  elastic  elementary  fibre.  In  like  manner,  when, 
from  an  untoned  and  vitiated  condition  of  the 
prima  via,  a  morbid  affection  of  the  mind  occurs, 
we  would  conclude  that  the  relaxation  of  the  ulti- 
mate fibre,  observable  in  the  alimentary  functions, 
extends  to  the  organs  of  sense. 

The  dejection,  gloom,  and  mental  aberrations 
produced  from  such  affections  were  not  unnoticed 
by  the  ancients.  Observing  the  efficacy  of  purga- 
tives in  removing  the  melancholic  lowerings  of 


26 


the  mind,  and  oppression  of  its  faculties,  they  at- 
tributed  these  to  the  presence  of  an  atrabilis,  or 
black  choler,  in  the  alimentary  organs.  A  high 
estimation  was  attached  to  the  melamponium,  in 
these  affections,  as  acting  specifically;  and  Me- 
lampus,  a  Greek,  (from  whom  it  received  its  name,) 
cotemporary  with  the  Argonautic  expedition,  is 
said,  by  its  use,  to  have  cured  the  daughter  of 
Poems,  King  of  Argos,  of  an  obstinate  mental 
malady. 

Can  the  effect  wrought  be  attributable   to  a 
recovery  of  tension  in  the  muscular  fibre  ? 

An  inquiry  which  has  much  interested  physi- 
ologists, and  involved  much  hypothesis,  is  that  in- 
stituted into  the  modus  operandi  of  the  narcotic 
principle,  on  the  faculties  of  the  mind  and  functions 
of  the  body.  There  exists  not,  perhaps,  a  more 
apposite  illustration  of  the  prompt  and  intimate 
sympathy  of  the  stomach  and  brain  than  that  which 
here  takes  place.  While  some  have  ascribed  the 
effects  to  a  principle  taken  into  the  circulation, 
others  have  referred  it  to  an  impression  made  on 
the  nerve. 

May  the  moral  and  physical  phenomena  here  be 
attributed,  in  the  first  place,  to  a  tension  given  the 
elementary  fibre  ;  followed,  secondly,  by  a  propor- 
tionable relaxation  ?  Do  those  high  exhilarations 
of  mind,  succeeded  by  languor  and  depression,  act 
in  the  same  manner  ? 

Cold,  to  a  certain  degree,  produces  an  increase, 
and,  as  it  were,  a  concentration  of  sensorial  power. 
Heat,  beyond  a  certain  extent,  acts  conversely,  by 
enfeebling  the  cerebral  force.  Are  these  phenome- 
na ascribable  to  the  causes  assigned  above  ?  If  so, 
will  not  this  account  for  the  characteristic  cerebral 
energy  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  temperate  zone  f 


27 


PART  II. 


Sect.  I.  Influence  of  the  Mind  on  the  Physical  Func- 
tions, 


We  can,  perhaps,  make  no  nearer  advance  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  motive  principle,  than  in  the 
probable  supposition  that  there  exists  in  the  hu- 
man being  a  determinate  proportion  of  sensorial 
power,  (the  excitability  of  Brown,)  and  that  inas- 
much as  it  has  a  derivable  tendency  to  the  functions 
of  the  body,  or  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  is  their 
respective  energy  of  action.  By  a  parity  of  rea- 
soning we  would  infer,  that  from  the  close  alliance 
of  these,  there  is  always  a  reciprocity  of  action  in 
health  and  disease. 

Where  the  greatest  equanimity  of  mind  exists, 
the  performance  of  the  bodily  functions  is,  for  the 
most  part,  uniform  ;  nor  is  the  animal  economy 
subject  to  those  morbid  actions  which  constitute 
disease.  The  observation  of  cheerfulness  and 
good  nature  being  combined  with  obesity  is,  for 
the  most  part,  correct ;  the  latter  is  the  result  of  the 
former. 

In  nations,  as  in  individuals,  we  observe  a  pe- 
culiar bodily  temperament  induced  by  peculiar 
conformation  of  mind.  The  Italians,  possessed  of 
much  irritability  and  sensibility,  with  passions  ar- 
dent and  easily  excited,  have  not  that  unmeaning 
rotundity  of  countenance  assignable  to  the  inhabi- 
tant of  northern  Europe.  One  has  only  to  revert 
to  the  portraits  of  that  people  to  be  assured  of  this. 


28 


To  this  cause  may  be  attributed  their  excellence 
in  the  pictorial  and  sculptural  arts,  which  find  among 
them  the  most  striking  exemplars.  In  their  mus- 
cular proportions  they  evince  a  point  and  angula- 
rity, the  effects  of  repeated  flexion  of  muscle  and 
tension  of  fibre,  produced  by  mental  agitation* 
The  German,  a  thinking,  yet  phlegmatic  being, 
with  amenity  of  disposition,  and  passions  by  no 
means  easily  excited,  has  a  curvature  and  aggrega- 
tion of  muscle,  characteristic  of  his  comparative 
moral  inaction. 

The  same  eiFect  wrought  on  the  animal  func- 
tions by  the  affections  of  the  mind,  may  be  sup- 
posed to  take  place  in  the  natural  functions. 

When  an  over-proportion  of  the  nervous  influ- 
ence is  determined  to  any  one  order  of  functions, 
it  will  always  be  at  the  expense  of  the  rest.  In 
idiots,  where  the  cerebral  action  is  feeble,  the  other 
functions  derive  an  increase  of  power.  There  is 
an  increment  of  muscular  quantity,  as  also  of  di- 
gestive power,  in  proportion  to  the  decrement  of 
cerebral  action. 

The  partial  cessation  of  mind  during  sleep,  will 
explain  the  restoration  which  the  animal  functions 
then  undergo,  and  the  sensible  increase  of  \he  func- 
tions of  digestion.  The  now  undivided  current 
of  sensorial  fluid  flows  almost  exclusively  to  these. 

Nor  is  it  less  deducible,  that  as  the  sensorial 
power,  when  directed  to  many  parts,  must,  by  this 
division,  necessarily  become  weakened ;  so,  when 
concentrated  in  a  greater  quantity  than  ordinary, 
in  any  particular  organ,  the  function  of  that  organ 
must  acquire  an  increased  energy.  Hence  the  ab- 
scission of  one  sense,  imparts  a  greater  excellence 
to  another,     Most  deaf  people  have  a  certain  in- 


29 


telligence  in  their  eyes,  truly  characteristic.  In 
blindness  there  is  often  a  partial  translation  of  the 
sensorial  current  to  the  organ  of  touch.  Laertes 
recognises  the  Ithacan  sage,  in  passing  his  lingers 
over  his  countenance. 

Where  the  organs  of  a  sense  are  twofold,  the  ob- 
literation of  one  adds  to  the  power  of  the  other. 
By  the  annihilation  of  a  sense,  the  sum  of  sensorial 
power  is  increased,  in  the  expenditure  being  di- 
minished. The  waste  of  sensorial  power  in  the 
exercise  of  vision  is  greater  than  that  of  the  rest  of 
the  senses  combined.  Hence,  by  the  deprivation 
of  sight,  the  amount  of  cerebral  energy  is  augment- 
ed. The  bard  of  antiquity  thus  speaks  of  the 
Minstrel  Demodocus : 


— "  The  sacred  master  of  celestial  song  : 

Dear  to  the  Muse !  who  gave  his  days  to  flow 
With  mighty  blessings,  mix'd  with  mighty  wo ; 
With  clouds  of  darkness  quench'd  his  visual  ray, 
But  gave  him  skill  to  raise  the  lofty  lay." 

In  perceiving  how  the  various  dispositions  of 
mind  and  body  consentaneously  influence,  and 
are  influenced  by  each  other,  one  cannot  help 
observing  the  triple  alliance  between  our  materials 
moral,  and  intellectual  natures  ;  and  the  necessity 
there  is  of  preserving  that  due  exercise  of  each, 
whose  result  constitutes  that  happiness  which  de- 
volves as  the  portion  of  humanity. 

u  Beatum  dicamus  hominem  eum ;  qui  fortunae 
muneribus  utatur,  non  serviat.  Hunc  necesse  est 
sequunter  gauduum  inconcussum  et  sequabile,  per- 
petua  tranquillitas  et  libertas,  pax  animi  et  magni- 
tudo."* 

*  Senec.  De  Beat.  c.  24, 
5 


30 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  here,  that  we  would  ren* 
der  physical  causes  paramount  in  our  being,  and, 
by  such  a  dangerous  concession,  adjudge  all  ac* 
tion  as  their  necessary  result.  Our  sole  object  is 
to  evince,  that  the  connexion  to  which  we  have  al- 
luded, may  subserve  to,  or  retard,  the  furtherance 
of  the  governing  motive. 

Indeed,  while  superficial  observation  points  out 
peculiar  dispositions,  affections,  actions,  and  even 
characters,  resulting  from  organic  tendencies,  it  will 
be  vain  that  arguments,  deduced  from  principles, 
are  arrayed  in  opposition.  Such  reasonings,  al- 
though rational,  cannot  look  down  facts. 

Sect,  II.  Influence  of  the  Mind  on  the  Digestion. 

But  the  limits  of  a  Dissertation,  like  the  present, 
will  not  permit  us,  were  we  even  possessed  of  the 
requisites,  to  enter  into  all  the  important  bearings 
which  the  subject  would  maintain.  We  shall,  how- 
ever, revert  to  one,  not  only  interesting  in  a  patho- 
logical point  of  view,  but  as  connected  with  a  class 
of  beings,  whose  posthumous  honours  are,  for  the 
most  part,  purchased  by  a  life  of  bodily  privations, 
and  of  mental  sufferings. 

Were  we  possessed  of  a  correct  knowledge  of 
the  temperament  of  genius,  there  would  be  exhi- 
bited an  apposite  illustration  of  the  sympathetic 
converse  of  the  mind  and  stomach.  The  former, 
acting  primarily  on  the  latter,  which,  in  turn,  re- 
acting, maintains  a  morbid  correspondence. 

Tissot,  in  his  Essay  Sur  les  Maladies  de  Gens  de 
Jjettres,  has,  indeed,  upheld  a  portraiture  gloomy 
enough  to  affright  into  quiescence  all  literary  am- 
bitioiio 


31 

Genius,  Which  would  deduce  its  origin  from  hea- 
ven, and  ascribe  its  energies  to  nothing  short  of 
inspiration,  must,  nevertheless,  in  a  measure,  suc- 
cumb to  physical  influences,  which  can  depress  the 
most  vigorous  intellect,  and  enfeeble  the  spring  of 
the  most  buoyant  imagination.  Having  traced  its 
genealogy  to  the  skies,  it  would  fain,  as  a  spiritual 
emanation,  deem  itself  superior  to  bodily  influen- 
ces. Yet  it  appears  a  melancholy  truth,  that  none 
hold  more  intimate  communion  with  the  physical 
evils  of  life  than  the  beings  allied  to  it.  When 
we  speak  of  physical  causes,  we  would  not  only 
confine  ourselves  to  those  arising  from  a  tempera- 
ment of  body,  original,  or  induced ;  but  would 
particularly  advert  to  that  peculiar  morbid  confor- 
mation of  stomach  assignable  to  constitution. 

The  affections  of  the  alimentary  functions^ 
resulting  from  a  constitutional  intenseness  of  feeling, 
have  not  only  been  attributed  to  the  ascendancy 
which  the  operations  of  the  mind  have  over  the 
epigastiric  centre,  but  to  the  sedentary  nature  of 
literary  avocations.  The  latter  circumstance  has 
been  too  much  dwelt  upon.*  "On  voit"  (says 
Tissot)  "tresfrequemment  des  sots  boire  et  man- 
ger beaucoup,  sans  s'incommoder,  quiconqu'ils 
menent  une  vie  sedentaire,  et  qu'ils  ne  soient  pas 
d'une  constitution  plus  robuste  que  d'autres.  Com* 
bien  ya-t-il,  au  contraire,  de  gens  d'esprit  dont  leg 
digestions  sont  penibles  et  laborieuxquoiq'ils  soient 
d'un  bon  temperament  et  qu'ils  fassent  de  l'ex- 
ercise."  Dr.  Darwin  has  also  noticed  and  object- 
ed to  this  excess  of  importance  attached  to  the 
necessity  of  exercise.       When  we  observe  those 

w  Motus  corporis  non  omnes,  omnibus  convemunt." 

SennerUis,  Instit.  Med,  Mb.  iv.  p.  404. 


32 

whose  lives  are,  for  the  most  part,  sedentary,  but. 
whose  passions  are  feebly  excited,  and  who  are 
seldom  solicited  to  mental  exertion,  enjoying  an 
excellent  health,  with  unimpaired  digestive  pow- 
ers, are  we  not  led  to  conclude,  that  too  little  has 
been  attributed  to  the  influence  which  the  mind 
excites  over  the  nutrient  organs,  and  too  much  to 
the  agency  of  physical  causes  ? 

The  mechanical  doctrines  of  Pitcairn,  in  ac- 
counting for  the  phenomena  of  digestion,  as  well 
as  the  doctrines  of  those  who  would  ascribe  it  to 
attrition,  agitation,  or  solution,  have  been  long  ex- 
ploded. Why,  then,  is  agitation  deemed  so  essen- 
tial to  its  performance  ?  Is  it  not  rather  necessary 
as  tending  to  maintain  the  peristaltic  motion,  and 
aid  dejection  ?  When  the  constitutional  habits  of 
persons  having  active  occupations,  are  adduced 
as  illustrative  of  the  essentiality  of  exercise,  it 
should  be  recollected  that  with  these  there  is  the 
least  cerebral  activity;  whereas  the  lives  of  literary 
men  are  those  of  "  laborious  ease." 

"  Qui  pense  le  plus,  digere  le  plus  mal  ;" 
for  that  sensorial  power  is,  in  a  measure,  ex- 
pended in  the  operations  of  the  mind,  which 
should  be  distributed  to  the  respective  functions 
of  the  animal  economy,  in  proportion  to  their  indi- 
vidual exigence. 

<'  It  is  in  the  region  occupied  by  the  semilu- 
nar ganglion,"  (says  Richerand,)  "  in  which  the 
great  sympathetic  nerves  unite,  and  which  is  to 
be  considered  as  the  centre  of  the  system,  form- 
ed by  their  union,  that  we  refer  all  our  agreea- 
ble sensations;  there  it  is  that  we  feel  a  sad- 
ness, a  constriction,  which  is  commonly  refer- 
red to  the  heart.    Hence,  in  the  sad   emotion* 


33 


of  the  soul,  seem  to  originate  those  painful  irra- 
diations which  trouble  and  disorder  the  exercise 
of  all  the  functions."* 

Thus,  those  passions,  for  ever  undulating  (if 
the  expression  be  admissible)  through  our  feeble 
frame,  during  existence,  urging  us  forward  in  our 
destined  career,  by  constant  irritations;  or  arousing 
our  wearied  and  desponding  being  by  livelier  gusts ; 
those  passions  have  their  termination,  for  the  most 
part,  in  the  natural  functions ;  as  their  operations 
are  also  demonstrable  in  the  superficies  of  the  ani- 
mal solid.  It  was  not,  then,  in  the  language  of 
mere  metaphor,  that  the  first  writers,  who  drew  their 
ideas  from  the  original  source,  referred  their  sen- 
sations of  passion  and  emotion  to  the  alimentary 
function.  The  "  bowels  leaping  with  joy,"  and 
"  yearning  with  commiseration,"  were  real  sensa- 
lions. 

The  morbid  affection  of  stomach  of  the  literary 
recluse,  proceeding  originally  from  a  mental  cause, 
reacts,  in  turn,  on  the  mind. 

The  association  acquires  such  a  preternatural 
nearness  and  sensible  bearing,  that  their  minutest 
actions  are,  as  they  respect  each  other,  either  effi- 
cient or  consequential* 

So  intimately  blended  are  the  respective  condi- 
tions of  the  mind,  stomach,  and  skin,  that,  as  the 
affections  of  the  cerebral  and  alimentary  functions 
are  most  commonly  indicative  of  each  other,  so 
the  state  of  the  cuticular  excretion  is  assignable  to 
both.  A  remission  of  the  latter,  is,  for  the  most 
part,  attended  with  a  prostration  or  vacillation  of 
the  mental  powers. 

*  Phys.  p.  57, 


From  the  combination  of  these  physical  causes, 
there  arise  those  moral  sufferings  which  so  power- 
fully appeal  to  our  sympathy.  Amidst  the  sombre 
broodings  of  mind,  cloistered,  as  it  were,  from  all 
which  might  otherwise  impart  enthusiasm,  the 
most  incongruous  associations  proceed.  Imagina- 
tion, ever  on  the  alert,  like  a  timid  out- scout,  sees 
ambushed  around  nought  but  danger.  Appre- 
hensions the  most  fantastic  are  conjured  up,  and 
the  mind  seems  fertile  in  resources,  tending  to  its 
own  undoing.  The  dark  catalogue  of  human 
miseries  pass  in  gloomy  procession,  while  fancy 
mimics  the  individual  portraitures. 

"  A  grizzly  troop  are  seen, 
The  painful  family  of  death, 
More  hideous  than  their  queen. 
This  racks  the  joints — this  fires  the  vein, 
That  every  lab'ring  sinew  strain. 
Lo,  poverty  !  to  fill  the  band, 
That  numbs  the  soul  with  icy  hand, 
And  slow  consuming  age." 

There  is,  indeed,  a  total  surrender  of  self  to  the 
illusions  of  sensation,  and  the  faculty  is  incapable 
of  attending  to  aught,  save  that  which  holds  it  in 
durance  ;  either  lost  in  a  wild  vacuity,  or  alert  in 
detecting  every  passing  feeling. 

Among  the  unhappy  martyrs  to  this  deranged 
state  of  the  alimentary  functions,  and,  perhaps,  in 
no  small  degree,  consequent  affection  of  mind,  none 
have  more  powerfully  called  forth  emotions  of  the 
most  deep-wrought  and  tender  interest,  than  the 
virtuous  and  feeling  Cowper.  The  melancholy 
wreck  of  such  powers,  the  distortion  imparted  to 
the  most  amiable  of  feelings,  the  profound  dejec- 
tion, which,  like  a  blasting  night-shade,  withered 


33 


every  unfolding  bud  of  happiness ;  render  him,  of 
authors,  the  peculiar  object  of  our  sympathy. 

"During  his  residence  in  Norfolk,"  (says  his 
biographer,)  "the  process  of  digestion  never  pass- 
ed regularly  in  his  frame."  This,  inducing  a  ma- 
lignant affection  of  skin,  was  no  doubt  the  cause 
of  much  of  his  mental  indisposition. 

Dr.  Currie,  of  Liverpool,  alike  distinguished  for 
his  professional  and  literary  talents,  has,  in  his  life 
of  Burns,  adverted  to  an  affection  somewhat  simi- 
lar. 

"  Though  of  an  athletic  form,"  says  that  cele- 
brated physician,  "  Burns  had  in  his  constitution, 
the  peculiarities  and  the  delicacies  that  belong  to 
the  temperament  of  genius.  He  was  liable,  from 
a  very  early  period  of  life,  to  that  interruption  in 
the  process  of  digestion  which  arises  from  deep 
and  anxious  thought,  and  which  is  sometimes  the 
effect  and  sometimes  the  cause  of  depression  of 
spirits.  Connected  with  this  disorder  of  the  sto- 
mach, there  was  a  disposition  to  head-ach,  affecting 
more  especially  the  temples  and  eye- balls,  and 
frequently  accompanied  with  irregular  and  violent 
movements  of  the  heart.  Endowed  by  nature  with 
great  sensibility  of  nerves,  Burns  was,  in  his  corpo- 
real, as  well  as  in  his  mental  system,  liable  to  in- 
ordinate impression  ;  to  fever  of  body  as  well  as 
of  mind." 

These  symptoms  were,  no  doubt,  unhappily 
accelerated  by  those  frequent  excesses,  proceeding, 
to  use  the  poet's  own  language,  from  that  "  mad- 
dening play  of  pulse,"  characteristic  of  such  pe- 
culiar and  original  powers.  But  when  it  is  recol- 
lected how  many  possessed  of  far  weaker  consti- 
tutions, indulge  with  impunity  in  greater  extremes 


36 


of  dissipation,  and  nevertheless  attain  longevity ; 
the  decayed  digestion  which  preceded  the  prema- 
ture fate  of  the  bard,  will  not  wholly  be  ascribed 
to  adventitious  circumstances. 

Sect.  III.    Influence  of  Diet  on  the  Mind. 

In  proceeding  to  an  illustration  of  the  mutual  re- 
lations of  the  mind  and  stomach,  were  we  to  in- 
dulge ourselves  in  detail,  exemplification  would  be 
far  from  scant.  Literary  history,  and  the  general 
phenomena  of  life,  present  a  copious  resource. 

From  the  various  occupations  of  men,  their  ha- 
bits, peculiarities  of  constitution,  and  diet,  varying 
results  take  place,  having  a  relation  to  the  subject 
in  question.  Though  we  dare  differ  from  the  il- 
lustrious author  of  Zoonomia,  in  believing  that  it 
is  not  so  much  the  quality  as  the  quantity  of  the 
food  indulged  in,  which  affects  most  the  constitu- 
tions of  health  and  disease ;  as,  also,  the  operations 
of  the  mind ;  yet,  no  doubt,  the  qualities  of  the 
various  aliments  taken  into  the  stomach,  have,  at  a 
definite  point,  their  influence  on  the  moral  and  in- 
tellectual character.  From  the  watery  aliments 
of  the  Dutch,  the  piquant  ragouts  and  light  wines 
of  the  French,  the  animal  food  and  beer  of  the 
English,  some  correspondent  effects  may,  perhaps, 
be  traced  in  the  mental  characters  of  the  different 
people.  Yet,  in  nations,  as  in  individuals,  it  is  the 
quantity,  rather  than  the  qualities  of  diet,  to  which 
we  must  advert,  in  accounting  for  the  agency 
which  the  stomach  maintains  on  the  mind. 

Plutarch  has  acquiesced  to  the  imputation  of  stu- 
pidity, preferred  against  his  countrymen,  the  Boeo- 
tians ;  but  he  has,  at  the  same  time,  assigned  as  a 


37 

cause,  their  profuse  indulgence  in  animal  food, 
which  he  gravely  tells  us,  tends  to  the  defedation 
of  intellect.*  But  this  fanciful  opinion  in  dietics 
has  been  too  long  indulged,  and  ought  to  give 
place  to  a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the 
animal  economy.  The  light  viands  of  the  Py- 
thagoreans, the  "cichorea  levesque  malvae"  of 
the  poet,  furnish,  indeed,  a  simple  refection; 
but  it  will  be  doubtful  whether  they  impart  a 
more  ethereal  sustenance  than  an  animal  diet. 
Were  even  these  indulged  in  an  undue  quan- 
tity, it  will  likewise  be  questionable  whether  the 
results  would  not  be  correlative  with  a  less  pas- 
toral cheer. 

Rather  let  us  revert  to  what  a  more  enlightened 
era  in  medicine  offers  to  our  notice.  The  English, 
perhaps,  use  a  greater  quantity  of  animal  food  than 
any  other  European  people,  yet  that  country  has 
produced  a  Bacon,  Newton,  and  Locke,  in  philoso- 
phy ;  and  a  Shakspeare  and  Milton  in  poesy  ;  and 
its  inhabitants  have  been  characterized  as  a  thinking 
people. 

The  East-Indians,  and  other  oriental  nations, 
who  subsist,  for  the  most  part,  on  a  vegetable  ali- 
ment, are  not  remarkable  for  any  moral  or  intel- 
lectual excellence. 

From  what  reasonings  a  priori,  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  process  of  digestion  and  assimilation  offer, 
it  is  not  probable  that  a  specific  effect  is  produced 
by  the  use  of  any  particular  kind  of  food.  Why, 
then,  we  would  infer  a  peculiar  mental  character, 
from  the  use  of  a  vegetable  or  animal  diet,  does  not 
appear.     Is  it  not  more  accordant  with  the  laws. 

*  Vide  Symposiacs. 
6 


38 


which  the  general  economy  of  the  animal  being 
exhibits,  to  ascribe  the  difference  wrought  by  the 
use  of  either,  to  the  degree  of  nutrition  they  re- 
spectively impart? 

Madame  de  Stael  informs  us  that  the  inhabitants 
of  Vienna  pride  themselves  on  the  quantity  of  food 
brought  into  and  consumed  within  the  metropo- 
lis. Can  a  better  cause  be  given  for  that  paucity 
of  intellectual  effort  attributable  to  the  Vienneans  ? 

As  Erasistratus  ascribed  most  diseases  to  excess, 
so  might  we  impute  it  to  many  of  those  mental 
affections,  referred,  often  wrongly,  to  moral  causes. 

Dr.  Moffet,  a  celebrated  and  learned  English 
physician,  who  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  has  both  humorously  and  af- 
fectingly  adverted  to  this  subject.  "  Would  you 
see"  (observes  the  doctor)  "  the  discommodities 
of  excess  ?  Why  then  imagine  you  saw  Polyphe- 
mus stript  of  wit  and  memory,  Cleomenes,  king 
of  Lacedemonia,  playing  at  cherry-pit  with  chil- 
dren ;  and  Timotheus,  who  having  the  night  pre- 
ceding supped  with  Plato,  exclaiming  next  morn- 
ing, 'How truly  sweet  are  Plato's  suppers.'  " 

A  repletion  in  diet  manifests  itself  on  the  intel- 
lect, in  producing  an  obtusion  and  aberration 
of  its  powers  ;  as,  also,  on  the  moral  faculty,  in 
irregular  and  moody  appetites,  fatuity  of  feeling, 
and  irritableness  of  passions.  To  this  cause,  also, 
with  its  occasional  consequents,  surfeit,  indiges- 
tion, and  interrupted  perspiration,  much  of  that 
gloom  and  periodical  depression  of  spirits  may  be 
attributed,  which  have  been  falsely  ascribed  to 
other  sources,  and  which  have  been  received  under 
names,  designative  of  causes  which  are,  in  the 
main,  supposititious. 


39 

Nature,  in  her  wise  economy,  has  so  bountiful- 
ly disposed  "  the  form  of  things,"  as  everywhere 
with  the  useful  to  have  combined  the  agreeable. 
Thus,  in  the  physical,  as  in  the  moral  man,  she  has 
rendered  the  just  indulgence  of  his  appetites,  whose 
employment  are  essential  to  his  existence,  or  well- 
being,  a  source  of  individual  gratification;  as 
pain  and  misery  are  ever  consequent  to  their  per- 
version. In  this,  as  in  all  the  operations  of  cre- 
ation, wisdom,  and  benevolence  are  allied* 

Accordingly,  as  the  just  precincts  of  rational  re. 
fection  are  overstepped,  the  faculties  of  the  mind, 
sympathizing  with  the  physical  functions,  are  op- 
pressed and  interrupted ;  and  it  is  eventually  by 
such  excesses  that  its  energies  become  so  blunted 
and  enfeebled,  and  so  benumbed  for  want  of  due 
action,  that  the  soul  may  be  said  to  blend  itself 
and  be  incorporated  with  the  body. 

Sect.  IV.     The  peculiar  Influence  of  the  Stomach  on  the 
reasoning  and  imaginative  faculties,  and  on  morals* 

Beside  the  influence  which  diet  has  on  the  va- 
rious  affections  of  the  mind,  through  the  agency 
of  the  stomach,  it  will  be  observed  to  have  a  more 
peculiar  ascendency  over  some  of  its  powers  than 
others. 

As  it  regards  the  just  exercise  of  the  reasoning 
faculty,  how  necessary  is  it  to  those  devoted  to 
avocations,  requiring  sober  and  patient  research, 
and  mature  deliberation,  to  be  aware  of  this  organic 
ascendency.  In  reverting  to  those  ornaments  of 
our  species,  who,  by  affixing  the  seal  of  their  ge- 
nius to  the  records  of  humanity,  have  given  vali- 
dity to  our  pretensions  above  the  residue  of  ere- 


40 


ation ;  we  shall  see  them  not  disdaining  those  con- 
tinent observancies  so  essential  to  the  successful 
pursuance  and  attainment  of  knowledge.  Such 
were  those  who  have  founded  distinct  epochs  in  sci- 
ence— a  Pythagoras,  a  Newton,  and  a  Franklin. 

Secondly — Of  the  powers  of  the  mind,  none  are 
more  susceptible  to  the  action  of  the  digestive 
function  than  those  of  imagination,  which,  to  have 
their  free  scope,  must  be  as  unfettered  as  possible 
by  physical  causes.  Fancy  imps  her  noblest  da- 
rings in  those  moments  when  least  restringed  by 
the  operations  of  bodily  sense. 

The  moral  faculty,  also,  as  subjected,  in  a  mea- 
sure, to  the  influence  of  organic  tendencies,  is,  in 
some  degree,  through  the  modifications  of  diet, 
acted  upon  by  the  alimentary  functions.  It  was 
from  attending  to  this  important  result,  that  dietics 
were  made  to  occupy  so  prominent  a  situation  in 
the  legislative  code  of  the  ancients. 

The  historians  who  have  handed  down  to  us  the 
lives  of  a  ViteDius,  Domitian,  and  Caligula,  had 
given  us  a  sufficient  estimate  of  their  characters, 
had  they  merely  recorded  their  gluttony. 

When  Horace  informs  us  that  the  son  of  the  ac- 
tor iEsopus,*  dissolved  a  pearl  worth  one  million 
of  sesterces  for  a  draught,  and  that  the  sons  of 
Quintus   Arrius  dined  ordinarily  upon   nightin- 

*  "  Filius  JEsopi  detractam  ex  aure  Metellae, 
Scilicet  ut  decies  solidum  exsorberet,  aceto 
Diluit  insignem  baccam,  qui  sanior,  ac  si 
Illud  idem  in  rapidum  flumen  jaceretve  cloacam  ? 
Quinti  progenies  Arri  par  nobile  fratrum, 
Hequitia  et  nugis,  pravorum  et  amore  gemellum 
Luscinias  soliti  impenso  prand^re  coemptas." 

Sat.  3.  Lib.  % 


41 

gales,  at  great  expense,  he  has  represented  to  us 
every  thing. 

The  conscientious  physician,  who  is  enabled  to 
trace  existing  mental,  as  well  as  physical,  affec- 
tions to  such  sources,  has  yet  a  remaining  duty, 
the  most  delicate  in  the  routine  of  his  practice ; 
to  assume  the  character  of  moralist,  and  to  attack 
those  propensities  which  have  gradually  and  deep- 
ly enrooted  themselves  in  the  habit.  The  perform- 
ance of  this  will,  to  such  a  one,  present  no  difficul- 
ties with  whom  professional  interest  will  ever  yield 
to  conscious  duty. 

"  Praecipium  ergo  quod  medicus  potest  adferre, 
consistit  in  bono  regimine  afFectuum,  et  de  tali  me- 
dico Hippocrates  dixit,  medicum  philosophum 
Deo  esse  similem  ;  philosophi  nomine  non  intelli- 
gens  physicum  et  nos  hodie,  sed  moderationem 
morem  qui  homines  ex  malo  in  bonum  flectit,  eos- 
que  confirmat."* 

-  Boerhaave,  de  Morb.  Nervorum,  Tom.  2,  p.  395. 


FINIS* 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

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DATE  EORROWED 


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M34 


Annex 


